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Verne Bright papers

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: Ax 263

Scope and Contents

The collection contains correspondence, manuscripts, memorabilia, genealogy research, sketches, scrapbooks, and publications.

The collection is organized by accession/addendum. The initial donation, the 1969 addendum, and the 1972 addendum have been organized together. The 1974 addendum is organized separately.

The initial donation and the two subsequent addenda contain incoming correspondence (1911-1972), is organized alphabetically by last name or title and totals over 600 letters.

Correspondents include publishers, societies, and individuals including Jim Barker, Charles L. Emerson, Ethel Romig Fuller, Stewart Holbrook, Hugh Hume, Mr. and Mrs. Courtland Matthews, Oregon Historical Society, Laurence Pratt, Harold Vinal, Richard Wetjen, and Charles Erskine Scott Wood.

The 1974 addendum consists of correspondence, manuscripts, memorabilia, genealogy research, sketches, and publications.

Outgoing correspondence is organized chronologically, 1910; 1918; 1955-1957 and includes over 200 letters. The outgoing correspondence includes sixty-four letters from Bright, 1918-1919, when he was an infantryman in the A.E.F., written from Vancouver Barracks, Washington, Ft. McDowell, California, Ft. William McKinley, Philippines, and Vladivostok, Siberia. Most of them are to Mrs. C. E. Barker of Beaverton, Oregon. There is also a section of fan letters.

Incoming correspondence (1899-1975) is organized alphabetically by last name or title and includes over ninety letters. Correspondents include publishers, societies, and individuals including Jim Barker, Charles L. Emerson, Eleanor and Courtland Matthews, Oregon Historical Society, Pacific University, and Laurence Pratt.

Article-length manuscripts include drafts and corrections and two are about Jack Dempsey.

Poetry manuscripts often include drafts, different versions, and revisions, and are organized alphabetically by title.

The collection also contains tearsheets of articles and poetry clippings.

Genealogy material including notes, notebooks, charts, and clippings from research into various families including the Brights and early residents of Elizabethtown, New Jersey.

Other material includes notes and research on Oregon topics, photographs, sketches, memorabilia including publicity, advertisements, telegrams, book reviews, and programs, and poetry by other authors.

There are also three scrapbooks. Publications include Northwest based literary serials.

Dates

  • Creation: 1899-1975

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open to the public. Collection must be used in Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room. Collection or parts of collection may be stored offsite. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives in advance of your visit to allow for transportation time.

Conditions Governing Use

Property rights reside with Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries. Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs. All requests for permission to publish collection materials must be submitted to Special Collections and University Archives. The reader must also obtain permission of the copyright holder.

Biographical / Historical

Verne Bright (1893 - ) was born in Brookfield, Missouri, and came to Oregon in 1911. He was educated at Pacific University, and became an author of poetry. He also worked as a newspaper reporter, and as an English teacher.

His poems have been published in magazines and newspapers, and in books of poetry, including Mountain Man (1948) which "tells the story of how the descendants of Daniel Boone come to Oregon."

[Source: http://www.ochcom.org/pdf/Oregon-Literary-Timeline.pdf]

Extent

7 linear feet (5 containers) : 4 record storage boxes, 1 oversize flat box containing 2 scrapbooks

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Verne Bright (1893 - ) was an Oregon author of poetry who also worked as a newspaper reporter, and as an English teacher. The collection contains correspondence, manuscripts, memorabilia, genealogy research, sketches, scrapbooks, and publications.

Arrangement

Material within this collection has been organized by accession. This organization reflects the fact that the collection has been acquired in increments over time. This organization is also based on the decision not to merge the various accessions and organize them as a whole at this point in time, give the fact that future accruals are anticipated and/or that this organization is deemed sufficient for access.

Researchers should note that materials within a series or accession may overlap and/or relate to materials found in other accessions or initially processed materials. For example, correspondence may be found in all or only some groupings. In order to locate all relevant material within this collection, researchers may need to consult each accession.

Researchers should also note that similar materials can be arranged differently in each accession, depending on how the material is organized upon receipt or during initial processing. For instance, correspondence is one accession may be arranged alphabetically, while correspondence in another accession is arranged chronologically.

Other Finding Aids

Paper finding aid with additional information is available in Special Collections & University Archives.

Processing Information

Collection processed by staff, 1969-1974.

This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.

This collection received a basic level of processing including minimal to no organization and rehousing. Multiple accession(s) for the collection have not been merged or organized as a whole. Each accession is described separately.

Description information is drawn in part from information supplied with the collection and initial surveys of the contents.

Finding aid issues and correspondence

According to the very detailed paper finding aid the 1974 addendum contains correspondence from 1975. And although he was born in 1893, there is incoming correspondence in 1899.

Title
Guide to the Verne Bright Papers
Status
Complete Description
Author
Tanya Parlet and Kira B. Homo.
Date
2013
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.
Sponsor
Funding for production of this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

Repository Details

Part of the University of Oregon Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives Repository

Contact:
1299 University of Oregon
Eugene OR 97403-1299 USA